Westwood Instruments Solo Strings Untamed

Improvised, expressive and human solo strings
Human, raw and expressive solo string instruments featuring; Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. We've recorded over 1000 unique, improvised performances over the four instruments. Instantly playable by just playing harder or softer on your keyboard. From breathy and fragile murmurs to absolutely wild and manic bursts of chaos.

Not for the traditionalist, and not for the faint of heart. This is for fans of alternative scores and inspired by composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jed Kurzel and Jonny Greenwood.

There's also our unique and powerful STORMS articulation, can create crescendos from a solo performance to a frenetic ensemble. As well as all of the this, there are many other classic long and short note articulations which complement the sound and character of all the instruments.

Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Improvisations C1
Improvisations C2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont
Tremolo
Circular Bowing
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok

Viola
Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Improvisations C1
Improvisations C2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont
Tremolo
Circular Bowing
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok

Cello
Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont Soft
Sul Pont Grit
Tremolo
Circular Bowing
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok

Double Bass
Improvisations A1
Improvisations A2
Improvisations B1
Improvisations B2
Storms
Glue
Glue 8vb
Normale
Flautando
Sul Pont
Tremolo
Spiccato
Pizzicato inc. Bartok
Ricochets
Spot
A mono position that's super dry, super hyped and super detailed.

Close
This stereo pair is intimate but lively, allowing the sound to breathe just enough.

Room
A typical tree-style position, plenty of real room ambience and nicely balanced.

Gallery
A diffuse and airy position recorded in the ceiling of The Nave. Add this to the mix for natural depth and space.
Multis
There are several Multis created from multiple instruments loaded into one Kontakt instance. They've been created for immediate gratification and perfect for quickly getting your ideas down. There'll also show you some combinations and sounds you won't have thought of and spark off an idea.

All The Improvisations
Circular Textures
Empty Room Pizzicato
Quartet Improvisations
Reverby Flautando
Studio Spiccato
VaVaVaVa
Viene La Tormenta
Recorded at The Nave, one England's finest recording studios; a converted church with the most beautiful sounding live room. Engineer Tom Orrell used a set of classic microphones and vintage outboard to tailor the perfect sound for the strings.

For the spot position, a single Brauner VMA Valve mic or Neumann FET 47 mic does a great job of providing a very detailed, dry and hyped sound. Neumann KM184s capture a close stereo perspective; lively but still intimate. For the room position, we used a pair of AKG C414s, creating a more typical tree-style position and will give you a well balanced and open sound. Lastly, high up in the gallery were a pair of omnidirectional Oktava MK-12s. The secret weapon among engineers for their excellent detail, these will give you the full natural studio sound and allow you to hear the beautiful decay of The Nave.

We collected this really wide range of perspectives for you to mix exactly the sound you need. Everything was recorded through through Neve and API preamps, an AMEK Rembrandt desk and captured using world-class Apogee AD16X analogue to digital convertors.
Release Notes